BPL Global Taps Water Opportunity with South San Joaquin Irrigation District

SSJID delivers water more efficiently with BPLG’s new water management system

Also read the story in Smart Grid Today: "BPL Global's smart grid shrinks costs for San Joaquin water"

PITTSBURGH – June 24, 2009 – BPL Global^®, Ltd. (BPLG), a smart grid technology company dedicated to leading the transformation of energy efficiency and reliability, has deployed its Power SG^® integrated water and energy management solution at South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) in Manteca, CA. BPLG’s solution has resulted in improved water delivery efficiency and water accounting as well as minimizing the electricity required for water services. Initial results demonstrate a minimum of 10% improvement in water accounting and have set the stage for use of the irrigation pumps in SSJID’s electricity demand response program.

Electricity required for treatment and delivery of water accounts for as much as 80% of its cost, according to Sandia National Laboratories. With increasing demand for water and electricity, there is a global challenge to sustain reliable, affordable, and predictable supplies of water and electricity.

“Adding integrated monitoring and control capability transforms our ability to manage water and energy as scarce resources,” said Jeff Shields, general manager, SSJID. “The Power SG solution from BPLG has delivered immediate water and energy benefits and has improved operations as well as increased the reliability of our pumping assets. More efficient use of water for agricultural irrigation today ultimately saves our customers money and provides more water for other beneficial uses.”

SSJID provides reliable and economical water services for agricultural irrigation and domestic water in the South San Joaquin Valley. Committed to water and energy stewardship, SSJID selected BPLG to deploy a water management system to improve water services for their agricultural irrigation customers. SSJID recognized that both water and energy could be better managed while improving water quality and accuracy of water delivery and accounting.

“There is a strong linkage between water and electricity. Each is required to deliver the other and there are supply and demand imbalances for both,” said Keith Schaefer, CEO of BPL Global. “Economic development in countries around the world depends on affordable and sustainable supplies of both electricity and water. BPLG is committed to providing leading solutions to utilities for improved stewardship of these critical resources.”

BPLG’s Power SG integrated water and energy management solution includes enterprise class software, a 5.8 GHz communications network, water quality sensors and pump control interfaces. It provides SSJID with real time remote monitoring and control capability for pumping stations spread throughout the water district. This system monitors water quality of each well and critical operational parameters of each pump. Real-time, secure communications with pumping stations enabled centralized control of water delivery and real-time decisions to optimize operations. Significant gains were realized – optimizing the use of both ground and surface water supplies and saving energy by delivering the exact amounts of water with the required quality to the precise locations at the right time.

Population growth and increased standards of living are driving increased demand for electricity and water, particularly in areas where water and energy supplies are stressed and vulnerable. BPLG’s solution for integrated water and energy management is an extension of our Power SG platform that provides end-to-end software solutions to utilities for improved stewardship of these scarce resources.

About BPL Global
BPL Global, Ltd. (BPLG) is a smart grid technology company dedicated to leading the transformation of energy efficiency and reliability. The company provides software solutions and services to electric utilities enabling an intelligent grid to more efficiently manage demand, integrate distributed energy resources, improve service reliability, and optimize cost and capital productivity. BPL Global partners with local utilities, Internet service providers, equipment suppliers and financiers to create end-to-end solutions integrating the best in software, communications, hardware and managed services to aggressively deploy smart grid solutions around the world. Part of the clean technology sector of the electric utility industry, our applications provide the critical foundation for a coordinated, intelligent grid to deliver energy more efficiently and reliably for a greener environment.

About SSJID
In 1909, the South San Joaquin Irrigation District was established to provide a reliable and economical source of irrigation water for approximately 72,000 acres of agriculture in, and surrounding, Escalon, Ripon and Manteca. SSJID’s historic water rights allow for several hydroelectric power plants on a series of dams and reservoirs on the Stanislaus River. SSJID and Oakdale Irrigation District completed the original Melones Reservoir in 1926, and have co-owned the Tri-Dam Project, consisting of Donnells, Beardsley and Tulloch reservoirs and powerhouses, since 1957. In 2005, as unprecedented urban growth replaced agricultural land, the district expanded into providing domestic water service to South San Joaquin County cities with its state-of-the-art membrane filtration water treatment plant.  SSJID recently completed a 1.4 megawatt solar farm that provides nearly all the electricity to run its water treatment plant, saving the district over $400,000 annually in power costs. The solar farm is thought to be the world’s first single-axis solar tracking system featuring thin-film photovoltaic cells. For several years, the district has been moving towards providing retail electric service as well, aiming to cut electricity bills of those in its service territory by a minimum of 15% across the board. www.ssjid.com

BPL Global's smart grid shrinks costs for San Joaquin water